Holly Jolly Jokers and Other Holiday Shorts
by Gunney
Summary: Contains St. Sava Day. Answer to the December challenge, sorta. Involves Nikola/Helen and the rest of the gang.
1. Holly Jolly Jokers

Helen came upon the group unexpectedly.

Henry's lab was warm and inviting, and especially for Henry it was a bit of a haven. In times of crisis it tended to be the go to place when technological expertise was needed. But the night before they were to begin their holiday preparations she was surprised to find the majority of her staff gathered around Henry's small desk, peering with glee at a computer screen.

"Where'd you get it anyway?" Will asked, not taking his eyes from the screen to ask the question.

Henry shrugged, equally as focused. "E-Bay, it's the only place I could come up with low-tech video surveillance, sound equipment and high tech EM shielding in a large enough of quantity…"

"Without paying an arm and a leg," Kate finished feeding an arm between Henry and Will to point at something on the screen. "What is that thing?"

"I dunno." Will said, echoed by Henry and Biggie. All four of them leaned toward the screen together, trying to identify the mystery object, and Helen felt herself start to laugh and hurriedly choked back the sound. So far none of them had heard her enter, or turned toward the doorway. She didn't have a clue what they were doing but she could guess.

"You're sure this is gonna work?" Will asked.

"Sure. I had to do this once for a nocturnal abnormal in the SHU." Henry said, smirking a bit and behind him Biggie thought for a moment before he said, "Oh yeah…" Nodding and remembering with a similar look of devilish delight on his face.

Kate and Will turned to stare at him.

"The only way we could wake it up." Big Guy said.

It was Will that noticed her standing in the doorway. Helen quickly waved a hand at him to keep him from informing the others and was pleased when Will smirked, then looked back to the screen.

"Alright, we're sure about this one?" Henry asked, tapping at the keys rapidly for a moment before he used the touch pad to highlight some information.

Kate nodded silently, her eyes tracking Henry's progress. Big Foot had started to snicker behind them and Will licked his lips in anticipation.

"Okay and…Cameras are recording, sound is active, volume is up…" Henry grinned broadly and turned to his captive audience. "Armageddon in three, two, one…"

Henry's finger came down and immediately his lab was filled with a cacophony of noise. Bells, whistles, cymbals, and underneath it all the start of "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas". The noise blasted into the room, speakers hidden behind parts of machines and computers, vibrating so violently that keyboards, spare hard drives and piles of wires were crashing to the floor.

In a panic Henry slapped at the keyboard while Biggie, Kate and Will covered their ears scrambling for the door. The silence that followed Henry finally getting the right key was broken only by the groans of her staff. Then a familiar figure came up behind her, grinning softly, eyebrows up. He had what remained of an old web cam in his hands, held by the root of the broken cable. He passed Will, Kate and Biggie as he sauntered into the room, surveying the damage a little like a man who had just blasted his way into a diamond mine. Helen followed him quietly.

The computer screen was showing Tesla's loft, the scientist himself passed out on a bunk, surrounded by empty wine bottles, scratch paper in balls, and the general flotsam of his life. Even the time code on the bottom right hand of the screen was correct. Showing the current time and date; information that the Serbian must have changed after recording the video now playing on Henry's laptop.

Nikola leaned on the desk, sliding into Henry's pained view, waiting for the HAP to take his hands away from his assaulted ears. He handed Henry the now defunct webcam that Helen assumed had once been planted in Tesla's room, and tapped the laptop screen with a finger.

"Loop tape." He said, then straightened and walked back out of the room, humming. As he entered the hall Helen smirked when his voice echoed the strain, "And in case you couldn't hear. Oh by Golly, have a Holly, Jolly Christmas this year."


	2. St Sava Day

The table was laden with a white cloth, hand embroidered by nuns of the Serbian church. Magnus had gone herself to the border of old Serbia to drop her coin in the box and recieve the gift. There was no other way to get it as even in this day and age the Orthodox Christian convent refused to use **the internet**.

Two silver candlesticks held elegantly crafted white candles. Six crystal goblets sat near three unopened bottles of wine. The best she could find in her cellar that hadn't already been consumed by the ex-vampire.

There were two main dishes on the table. One was a fluted glass bowl containing what was essentially oatmeal. Roasted wheat with nuts and dates, nutmeg, cloves and honey. Despite Kate's complaints while making it and Will's grumbling carrying it to the table, it smelled acceptably appetizing.

The other dish was a wide, flat plate. There was a doily placed over the plate and under a large round loaf of bread. The top of it had been decorated with various symbols including a cross, the white **dove**, and some others that Magnus had also been forced to travel to the east to find. Given the amount of conflict in the area it was a challenge to find any written records from as far back as the mid 1800s.

Big Foot had been **in charge of** making the loaf or cake and Magnus had dissuaded him several times when he tried to make the Dove of Peace look more like a Manhattan pigeon. The point wasn't so much that they respect religious tradition, but more that they make the holiday feel as familiar as possible.

When all was said and done Helen was fairly pleased with what they had accomplished. She had even forced her employees, including the ever casual Henry Foss, to dress up for the occasion. She had gone through the grumbling, the questions as to why they were making such an effort for someone who never lifted a finger for the sake of anyone else in the Sanctuary. The final clincher had been the same motivation that gave Helen the idea in the first place.

"If all the people you loved and knew were dead, you no longer had the immortality you had been relying on most of your life, and you had to spend every day hidden away instead of living it up, with nothing to look forward to until you die, would you act any differently than he is?"

There were some protests of course but her team got the gist of what she was saying and finally gave in to her request.

So it was on January 7th, the winter after Tesla accidentally de-vamped himself, that the Serbian waltzed into the dining room, unsuspecting of anything being planned on his behalf and was instantly rendered motionless and speechless at the display before him.

When he did finally move it was to take a **single** cautious step towards the table, and crane his neck to get a better look at its contents.

"Slava?" He asked, squinting his eyes up at Helen before looking suspiciously towards all the others in the room. She hadn't asked them to, but when she turned she realized that all of them were forcing smiles. Big Foot especially looked rediculously uncomfortable.

"We sort of forced you to celebrate all of our winter holidays this year, we thought we might try one of yours." Helen said, her voice softening a bit. She had been so certain about the idea up until Tesla walked in.

He took another step, his eyes roaming over the table. She had chosen to light the dining room with candles only and the soft light made Tesla look a little less pale than he normally did since his return to humanity.

He kept moving, drawing closer and closer to her, his eyes going between the table and her face, giving her nothing to go on. Behind her Will had already given up on the idea, crossing his arms over his chest. Kate was likely to quickly follow his example and Helen knew the only reasons Biggie and Henry were there was as a show of support for her.

And still Tesla was silent. Mere feet from her and the table, his face stone still. He lifted his hand up and Helen noticed for the first time that he was carrying an envelope.

"I came to tell you I was planning to leave." He said, waving the envelope at her but not letting her take it. His voice curiously somber.

Helen felt dissappointment rush through her, wondering a second later why she felt it.

She stuttered for a moment, resisting the urge to break eye contact with him. She heard mild reactions from her staff as she asked, "When?"

Nikola drew in a breath and nodded, "Now...was when I was planning to leave. Right now..." He said, sounding distracted as he looked over the table again. "You all look nice." He added before he turned and started to leave.

"Hey!" Kate called, before Helen could even think of what to say, "Fang boy!"

Tesla stopped, turning with a show of annoyance.

"Do you know how long that gloop took to make?"

Will, Henry and Magnus stared at Kate in shock but Helen could see Biggie standing behind the dark haired woman nodding in agreement.

"Those stupid doves, took fifteen minutes to make. Each." He grumbled in annoyance.

After another moment Will seemed to catch on and blurted, "I had to carry that thing from the kitchen all the way out here...I have burns." He said, shoving the sleeves of his sweater up and showing off the slight red marks on his forearms.

Helen smirked, looked back to the Serbian who was also smirking ever so slightly, and said, "In short Nikola, you will have this meal with us."

"Traditional Serbian Slava to celebrate the Days of Saint Sava." Nikola said, far enough away from them that his voice rang through the mostly empty hall. His tone was incredulous, but the smile on his face was very familiar. "Complete with kolač and koljivo." He said, pointing to each dish in turn.

Helen nodded, letting a little playfullness enter her tone as she said, "There is the wine."

Immediately Nikola's demeanor changed to a pleased childish joy at the mention of his favorite alcoholic beverage.

Helen smiled then sobered a little. "We would be pleased and honored if you would join us." Her hand came to rest on the back of the seat that stood at the head of the table. She knew what it would take for Nikola to accept. He would always take what he felt he deserved, but accepting a gift he hadn't earned was very much against his nature.

"I suppose I might as well celebrate today instead of mourning," he said and finally moved to the table. He stepped to the side to pull out and hold Helen's chair to his right before he sat at the end.

"Mourning?" Henry asked, the first thing he had said since Nikola had entered the room.

"January 7th, my dear children, while being the date traditionally set aside for the celebration of the St. Sava slava, is also the day I died."


End file.
